Future Of IP Telephony Panel Answers Questions, Raises Others At INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & Expo

Each of the eight panelists at today's panel discussion on The Future of IP Telephony at INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & Expo had a different view on how advances in IP telephony technology and products and services would further the market.

Chuck Rutledge, VP of Marketing for Quintum Technologies, commented that knowledge of individual user information can play a large role in the interoperability and management of overall networks. Stef van Aarle, VP of Strategy and Marketing for Lucent Worldwide Services, said that technologies like SIP are pushing forward research. He said there is a lot of work to be done on the Customer Premises Equipment side, and that is a growing factor in research and development. He added that services must easy to use, highly secure and utterly transparent.

Pierce Reid, VP of Marketing for Qovia, said that the management side of IP telephony is lacking and that better tools for network management are essential to the technology's growth. Joe Burton, Director of Engineering/Media Services for Cisco Systems agreed and added that technologies need to be deployable and manageable. They should be developed beyond discrete communications systems and blended into overall enterprise communications.

The high-end residential area could be one area of focus for the industry, said Peter Spencer, Director of Strategic Marketing for Alcatel's Fixed Communications Group. He mentioned a growing number of young residents who are eliminating their PSTN lines in favor of broadband services for data and voice. Barry Zipp, Senior Director of Intelligent Services for MCI, said the market has seen a lot of interest from small to mid-sized enterprises, and those businesses are putting pressure on service providers to put service level agreements behind their VoIP offerings. He said the onus is on service providers to drive interest in the larger enterprise market.

Christopher Labrador, VP of Business Communication Solutions for Toshiba America Information Systems, mentioned that carrier space acceleration and enterprise upgrades will forward the push towards an end-to-end IP network. A wholesale upgrade of the entire communications network is what is needed to push the technology to the next level. Nicolas Pohland, executive director of snom, said that service providers are generally already happy with VoIP features. He said that regulatory climates in countries outside the U.S. could hinder adoption, and play a role in the way services are delivered in those areas.

For additional highlights of some of todays panel discussion topics, please see Rich Tehranis article.